Caitlyn Jenner Rescinds Support For Trump Over Gender Identity Policy

Caitlyn Jenner announced he no longer supports President Donald Trump in an op-ed Thursday, abandoning his previous hope that the president could bring positive change to the LGBTQ community.

“My hope in him — in them [the Republican Party] — was misplaced, and I cannot support anyone who is working against our community,” Jenner wrote in a Thursday column for The Washington Post. “I do not support Trump.”

Jenner “saw fertile ground for change within the Republican Party on LGBTQ issues,” following Trump’s election, but his outlook “has changed significantly,” according to his piece. Jenner wrote that he’d hoped for positive change, but that the Trump administration’s proposal to define gender according to biology represents another harmful attack against his transgender community.

“He [Trump] has ignored our humanity. He has insulted our dignity. He has made trans people into political pawns as he whips up animus against us in an attempt to energize the most right-wing segment of his party,” Jenner wrote.

Jenner’s op-ed follows a Sunday report indicating the Trump administration will define gender as determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable,” according to a memo obtained by The New York Times. The definition would define gender as either female or male, according to the person’s genitalia at birth.

“Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth,” the memo reads. Discrepancies would be determined by genetic testing, the memo indicates.

The proposed definition is “just one more example in a pattern of political attacks,” according to Jenner.

Lifelong Republican Jenner voted for Trump in 2016. Jenner said Trump “would be very good for women’s issues,” and that he “would never ever ever vote for Hillary,” in a March 2016 interview.

“I like a strong America. I like a strong military,” he also said in an April 2017 interview on “The View.”

The proposed gender definition would affect the status of transgender people serving in the military as well as transgender students. Since former President Barack Obama loosened the definition of Title IX, divisive battles have been fought over which bathroom students can use in school as well as what sports teams they can play on.

Companies have adopted plans covering the cost of therapies and surgeries for transgender and transitioning employees. Some states have mandated that insurance companies pay for sex change operations and other cosmetic procedures.

The Department of Health and Human Services will present the new definition of gender to the Department of Justice by January 2019, according to Trump administration officials.

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